In September 2022, CGIAR funded our Open Knowledge Kit accelerated humanitarian and MSME regeneration program in Bali, Indonesia. We brought together selected technical and non-technical women and Indigenous youth to learn our accelerated program of SDG data collection, mapping, analytics and monitoring, drone operations, and Tourism and Creative Industries micro, small and medium enterprise support and market access.
Our model delivers faster, more accurate verifiable representative data using free and open source tools and low-cost equipment. Training local communities means expensive consultant, equipment, software and travel costs and carbon footprints are greatly reduced, and enable continuous and consistent monitoring while increasing local daily wages by 100 to 1700 percent.
CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future dedicated to transforming food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis. The Open Knowledge Kit program is supported under their gender and digital divide Digital Innovation Initiative.
Open Knowledge Kit is a global program that addresses long-standing barriers to addressing gender, jobs and climate security gaps. Non-technical and technical cross-sector local communities led by women are rapidly trained across 15 free and open source tools to create local data employment opportunities at 2-17 times higher daily wages, while agriculture, tourism and creative industries are connected to premium and ethical clients.
We’re committed to the long-term well-being of local communities by coordinating donors across multi-year investments and enabling them to make more informed decisions with better data, prioritization and monitoring methods across the Sustainable Development Goals.
Bali Fab Fest is organized by the Fab Foundation, the Center for Bits and Atoms at MIT, the Fab City Foundation, and the Meaningful Design Group. It brings together two major annual events, the 17th edition of the Fab Lab Conference and 7th Fab City Summit 2022. Bali Fab Fest is a learning experience for both international participants and local stakeholders who invest their efforts into inventing and realizing the world that is coming next, responding to global challenges such as climate change and social exclusion through small scale interventions in situated communities. The event aims to promote and enable meaningful collaborations between innovators, makers, entrepreneurs, organizations, and the public sector.
Early warning weather alerts, real-time traffic maps, ride-hailing services. Technology has quietly become part of our daily lives.
SEAsia is home to the world’s fastest growing e-commerce market. As a result, there is a pressing need to ensure that communities are not left behind in an increasingly digital world.
In this session we will talk about climate smart solutions that contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of reducing hunger, closing the gender gap and improving environmental management.
Access to technology can level the playing field for struggling rural farmers, new low-cost data collection models result in 17 times higher wages for local communities and an app for informal waste workers can contribute to a clean ocean.
What needs to happen to fully utilize the potential of green tech for our planet and our societies? What can funders do to empower local communities to develop their own solutions? How can bold innovations be fostered?
Key Takeaways:
How green tech can open a path towards sustainable growth across the spectrum of climate, gender and livelihoods
Beyond free and open source technologies, placing cross-sector communities at the centre of knowledge stewardship and employment models provides the stability critical to bridge successful policy and program implementation, while dramatically reducing costs and carbon footprints
Initiatives to improve recovery rates of plastics in the ocean need to take into account the social and economic impacts on informal waste worker
In 2022 I was one of six people awarded with a fellowship at Subak Australia. Subak’s Fellowship funds innovative climate data specialists. This funding partially supported outputs for my G20 presentations, to show that my OK Kit local data economy and MSME program can provide better data, local revenues and social impacts at significantly lower costs and climate footprints, in just 3 months.
This past November I represented the Philippines at the ASEAN Creative Economy Business Forum and shared progress on the Creative Industries Bill and Tax-Free program to support micro to medium enterprise. I also shared our Open Knowledge Kit program that provides local employment through remote and in-person training using free and open source data collection, mapping, and analytics tools to help inform and provide better cross-sector prioritization, coordination and monitoring of initiatives.
On May 19 I’ll be sharing our women-led mapping and infrastructure work to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the Philippines and Indonesia at the APEC – Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation-Canada Growing Business Partnership. With majority of MSMEs led by women, economic and social investments should start and end with women. Join the Facebook Livestream at https://fb.me/e/L0c56n2v or register at https://bit.ly/3o1K015
Watch the Facebook Livestream : https://fb.watch/5FGmQgfLyE/
With the loss of funding to many vulnerable communities, multinational organizations will continue to shape humanitarian and development funding. How can we shift to more local and regional models of cross-sector leadership?
On Thursday, December 3rd 10am PST | 12pm COT | 1pm EST, we celebrate the Americas Geography Awareness Event with an opening keynote by Wade Davis. Wade holds degrees in anthropology and biology and received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University. He is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society and is currently Professor of Anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. He has authored 22 books, including One River, The Wayfinders and Into the Silence, winner of the 2012 Samuel Johnson prize, the top nonfiction prize in the English language. His work has taken him to East Africa, Borneo, Nepal, Peru, Polynesia, Tibet, Mali, Benin, Togo, New Guinea, Australia, Colombia, Vanuatu, Mongolia and the high Arctic of Nunuvut and Greenland.
Hear the stories of nice people doing good work. Connect with friendly local and regional communities, learn about free training, resources and funding opportunities.This event is free. Talks are 10 minutes each with a Q&A on the Facebook Live stream.
View the Facebook event page https://fb.me/e/1MwlEyx0b December 3rd 10am-1:15pm PST 12pm-3:15pm COT 1pm-4:15pm EST
Meet our speakers! 10:10am PST Celina Agaton
10:25am PST Wade Davis National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence | BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia
10:45am PST Rachel Olson Indigenous Maternal Health & Gender Firelight Group
11am PST Inez Cook Co-Founder and Owner Salmon n’ Bannock
11:15am PST Saraswathi Vedam Birthplace Lab
11:30am PST Sara Barron Future Forests
11:45am PST Melanie Chabot Canadian Red Cross
12:00pm PST Rudo Kemper Digital Democracy
12:15pm PST Kyle Napier Native Land Digital
12:30pm PST Maria Peña Valencia Youthmappers Colombia
1:00pm Eli Enns Indigenous Conservation Conservation Through Reconciliation See Less
On Wednesday, December 2 Jocelyn Kelly, Director of the Gender, Rights and Resilience Program at Harvard Humanitarian Initiative opens our Middle East & Africa Geography Awareness Event. She designs and implements projects to examine issues relating to gender, peace, and security in fragile states. Her international work has focused on understanding the health needs of vulnerable populations in Eastern and Central Africa and has included working with Uganda Human Rights commission to launch the first office in Africa promoting the Right to Health.
View the Facebook event page at https://bit.ly/2HKoNIi Wednesday, December 2nd 9am-11:15am WAT 10am-12:15pm CAT 11am-1:15pm EAT
Each talk is 15 minutes including a Q&A on Facebook Live. Hear the stories of nice people doing good work, connect with local and regional communities, and learn about free tools, discounts and funding opportunities.
Meet our speakers!
11:10am EAT Celina Agaton MapPH
11:25am EAT Jocelyn Kelly Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Gender, Rights and Resilience
11:40am EAT Ivan Gayton Humanitarian OpenStreetMap
11:55am EAT Melissa Mbugua Africa Podfest | NBO Film Fest
12:15pm EAT Rana Jawarneh Youthmappers Jordan
12:30pm EAT Immaculata Mwanja & Christina Reuben OpenMap Development Tanzania
12:45pm EAT Chrispin Ochieng Okumu Netsquared Kenya | Home Grown Foods and Permaculture
1:00pm EAT Janet Chapman FGM and Development Mapping Crowd2Map Tanzania
With the loss of funding to many vulnerable communities, multinational organizations will continue to shape humanitarian and development funding. How can we shift to more local and regional models of cross-sector leadership? Join our Asia-Pacific discussions for Geography Awareness Week
This year’s Geography Awareness Week helps bring together regional communities to discuss shared histories in food, work and now, Covid. Hear the stories of nice people doing good work. Connect with friendly local and regional communities, learn about free training, resources and funding opportunities. This event is free. Talks are 10 minutes each, followed by a 10 minute Q&A
Please meet our Asia-Pacific Region speakers!
Celina Agaton Regenerating Supply Chains
MapPHFeye Andal University Mapping Communities and Humanitarian Mapping Youthmappers
Sara Barron Local Voices in Urban Forest Planning Future Forests
Carrol Chan Disaster and Climate Change GIS and Remote Sensing Officer Pacific Community (SPC)
Youjin Choe Interpersonal Conflict in the OpenStreetMap community University of Melbourne
Pyrou Chung Indigenous Data Sovereignty Open Development Initiative, East-West Management Institute, Inc.
Charmaine Cu-Unjieng Free Stress and Trauma Management Programs International Association for Human Values
Kalel Demetrio Culinary History and Innovation Agimat & Alamat Foraging Bar and Restaurant
AJ Dimarucot Sustainable Careers for Remote Work in Creative Industries New OFW (Overseas Foreign Worker)
Hannah Dormido Graphics Reporter and Cartographer The Washington Post
David Garcia Indigenous and Conflict Mapping Mapmaker
Mahar Lagmay Disaster, Climate Change and Covid Mapping Executive Director University of the Philippines Resilience Institute
Adelaida Lim & Maribel Ongpin Rural and Indigenous Artisan Markets Philippine Textile Council
Rosal Lim Women Weavers and Artisan Markets Rurungan Sa Tubod Palawan
Leigh Lunas Drone Mapping GeoLadies PH
Andi Tabinas Mental Health Mapping Mental Health aWHEREness GeoLadies PHilippines
Mikko Tamura LGBTQ Mapping Mapbeks
Joeli Varo Pacific Mapping and Navigation Techniques Fiji National University
Saraswathi Vedam Global Quality Maternal and Newborn Care Hub and Covid-19 Birthplace Lab University of British Columbia
This year’s Geography Awareness Week helps bring together regional communities to discuss shared histories in food, work and now, Covid. Hear the stories of nice people doing good work. Connect with friendly local and regional communities, learn about free training, resources and funding opportunities. Short talks and discussions will run throughout the day across regional time zones. Everyone is welcome. More details to come soon!
Stay updated on events on Facebook https://fb.me/e/1NBreSiPv
Para sa pagmamahal sa bayan! For the love of country! We’re celebrating Geography Week around the world with a free mapping party on Saturday, November 16 from 9am to 5pm at UP Ayala Technohub. Everyone is welcome, families with children aged 10 years old and up!
My Canadian consulting company is currently mapping the Mindanao region to support rural farming, gender, healthcare and artisan communities. The Mindanao region grows almost half the country’s food, yet remains the poorest population, with many communities at 30-70% poverty incidence. War and conflict have increased in the region in recent years, with security and safety concerns for girls and women. Our goal is to help map rural agriculture, logistics and the gender gap to plan improved infrastructure with long-term impacts on health, well-being and livelihood for girls, women, Indigenous Peoples and farm families.
This is a coordinated effort across international agencies, government, business, non-profits, academe and community leaders. Our study results will lead the prioritization and coordinated planning between international funding agencies and private investment in the second phase of this initiative.
We’ll be working with communities to teach them to map and using geospatial technologies to rapidly analyze infrastructure gaps for validation with local communities.
Para sa pagmamahal sa bayan! Alang sa paghigugma sa atong nasud! Thanks to your amazing efforts, in two days we were able to complete 120,500 map changes! Keep up the good work, we can do this!
Many thanks to Youthmappers in Bangladesh, Washington and France for joining us remotely!
* Learn how to map with OpenStreetMap, the Wikipedia model of maps * Meet mappers from the public and private sector
* Join the international humanitarian mapping community
* Won prizes of free mobile data for a month and enjoyed free pizza
Learn about OpenStreetMap at https://youtu.be/suk8uRpIBQw and learn more at https://learnosm.org/
Learn how to use iD Editor to edit maps https://learnosm.org/en/beginner/id-editor/
Learn how to be a humanitarian mapping volunteer with Humanitarian OpenStreetMap https://youtu.be/8wdzGKmZu-k
Learn how to help with humanitarian mapping tasks https://learnosm.org/en/coordination/tasking-manager3/
Learn about the World Bank DRIVER Road Safety Platform https://www.roadsafety.gov.ph
I’ve been invited again to join the 2018 Wayfinder meeting in Istanbul this year. The Wayfinder is organized by Social Innovation Exchange (SIX), the world’s primary network focusing on social innovation. I will join a select group of 150 innovators, experts, and entrepreneurs from around the world and across Turkey, who have played, and will continue to play, a critical role in building the social innovation field. I’m excited to share our work on cross sector mapping within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, and our resilient supply chains and livelihood programs.
The first Wayfinder in 2017 was hosted in London and brought together 150 social innovation leaders from across the world to celebrate 10 years of social innovation practice, and to explore our visions for the future of social innovation.
I’m excited to visit Turkey for the first time, and hopefully get to know more about my Turkish roots.
I’ve just joined the board for the Do No Digital Harm Initiative, the world’s first on-call, deployable team mandated to address the ethical, security, and design challenges faced by humanitarian actors supporting highly vulnerable civil society groups, crisis-affected populations and the humanitarian practitioners who serve them. Our mandate is to reduce harm resulting from information activities and digital services deployed in natural disaster and protracted conflict environments.
Let’s help each other to make our roads safer! Together with the Department of Transportation, World Bank and Grab, join the Road Safety Idea Hack 2017 Launch this Monday, March 13th from 8am to 5pm at Crowne Plaza Manila. Cash prizes: 1st Prize P90,000, 2nd Prize P60,000 and 3rd Prize P30,000. Come join us for the kick off talks and contest mechanics in the morning, lunch, then workshops in the afternoon where you’ll learn about how you, community groups, open data, mapping and government can work together to make our roads safer. Free registration at http://ideahack2017.eventbrite.com/#roadsafetyPH
*Update* The photos are up! Come see them on Facebook.
It’s time for another Jane’s Walk! On May 13 from 8:30 to noon we’ll explore the dynamic Ortigas neighborhood, learn about the exciting new Ortigas Greenways parks, bike hub and walkways, and finish off with homemade halo-halo at Purple Yam Estancia. Hear amazing stories from Paulo Alcazaren and Amy Besa. Children and leashed pets are welcome! #Janeswalk#mapPH
Highlights include learning about the upcoming Ortigas Greenways Project, where new elevated walkways, three parks and a bike hub connect from the Ortigas MRT to Robinsons Galleria and Meralco Avenue. The Ortigas Greenways is a partnership with the Department of Transportation and Asian Development Bank to enhance walkability and recreation in the Ortigas business district.
Meet at 8:30am at the main gates of Saint Pedro Poveda College on Poveda Street. Tour ends at noon at Purple Yam Estancia at Capitol Commons where homemade halo-halo will be available for P240. Stay and explore the Katipunan Weekend Market until 10pm.
Tour stops include:
Saint Pedro Poveda College
Asian Development Bank – ADB
Ortigas Greenways
Lopez Museum and Library
Purple Yam Estancia
This Jane’s Walk is led by
Architect and heritage advocate Paulo Alcazaren
Purple Yam restaurant co-owner and culinary heritage advocate Amy Besa
ADB Senior Transport Specialist Lloyd Wright MapPH.com founder Celina Agaton
Dress for summer walking and bring water, sunscreen, hats and umbrellas! Children and leashed pets are welcome.
What is a Jane’s Walk?
Jane Jacobs believed in walkable neighbourhoods and cities planned for and by people. Her principles continue to guide urban planning principles today. We started Jane’s Walk in 2006 to honour her life and ideas. More than 200 cities around the world host walks every year. Learn more at http://janeswalk.org/information/about/janes-walk/
I’ve been asked to work with World Bank’s Road Safety Hack in partnership with the Department of Transportation and Grab. The launch and orientation starts on March 13th at 8am, with participants learning about the role of open data, health, road safety and community groups in addressing the Philippines issues with road safety. Attendees are invited to participate in creating solutions to road safety with P180,000 in prizes.
For more details, visit http://ideahack2017.eventbrite.com
Last year I was grateful to be invited to the First White House Mapathon and was able to thank the U.S. State Department for sharing satellite imagery and mapping support for Super Typhoon Haiyan. I’m thrilled to have been invited back to the White House for their Second White House Mapathonon July 7, 2016. #WHMapathon
The Philippines is the third most disaster prone country in the world, and the number one most at risk from climate change. With Map the Philippines readying for launch in the coming weeks, we aim to map the Philippines’ 81 provinces by December 2017 for better transparency, prioritization, coordination and monitoring of public and private infrastructure needs and projects. Beyond disaster management, our mapping, training and programs focus on building community resilience to help achieve the United Nations 17 Sustainable Goals.
The Office of Science and Technology Policy invites you to the Second White House Mapathon to celebrate and actively do Open Mapping on Thursday, July 7, 2016 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.
Open Mapping, or collaborative mapping, is where participants use a wiki-like approach to contribute to maps of the world. Open, accessible data -— including geospatial data — has been a key component of the Administration’s Open Data initiatives. During this event, we will highlight exciting initiatives that collect, create and use open geospatial data and participate in mapping projects to further those initiatives.
Increasingly, tools like citizen science and crowdsourcing are opening up the ability for the public to contribute to government datasets, and for government to support the creation of open data. Agencies including the Department of State, the Department of Interior, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Peace Corps, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the General Services Administration are working on crowdsourced mapping projects.
Crowdsourced mapping projects and participants are part of a growing innovation movement, transforming the relationship between the government and the public, and supported by United States commitments in the Second and Third Open Government National Action Plans. The White House Mapathon will highlight the successes and invite participants to contribute to the rising efforts in Open Mapping.
I’m thrilled to be co-organizing the 7th International Conference of Crisis Mappers in Manila on September 28-30, 2016. The week of October 1st sends our participants to field sites across the Philippines to connect with local communities and collaborate on mapping tasks.
This year’s theme is Building Resiliency: Inclusive Innovations in Crisis Mapping. The Philippines is the third most disaster prone country in the world and the most at risk from climate change. Its geography is spread over 7,000 islands, which are home to 12 ethnic groups and over 100 tribal groups. In contrast, it is also the fasted growing economy in Asia and our communities are one of the top users of social media in the world. In spite of our many challenges, Filipinos maintain a remarkably resilient and warm culture, even Anthony Bourdain dedicated a show episode to our resounding spirit.
Everyone is welcome to attend the conference, we hope to have a good representation of all the sectors providing their insights and feedback. We hope many Filipinos will participate, and we are offering a 3-day conference rate of P2500 to improve accessibility and will open scholarship opportunities as well.
“A Resilient City is one that has developed capacities to help absorb future shocks and stresses to its social, economic, and technical systems and infrastructures so as to still be able to maintain essentially the same functions, structures, systems, and identity.” ResilientCity.org
To become a resilient city, coordinating the efforts of the public and private sectors is essential to the well-being of our communities, and to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. How can data, mapping, crowdsourcing and legislation help us help each other? Hear from Map the Philippines (MapPH) founder, Celina Agaton on how they plan on mapping the Philippines by 2017.
I’m speaking at MNL Urban Design Festival twice this year! The first event is on Saturday June 18th 3:30pm at the MNL Urban Design Festival x Escolta at HUB: Make Lab at First United Building, 413 Escolta Street, Manila. Next I’ll be speaking at A Space on Wednesday, June June 22, stay tuned for details!
MapPH was invited to present our national OpenStreetMap resilience mapping program during the Improving Mobility, Improving Resilience at the Asian Development Bank’s Innovation for Resilient and Smart Communities event on May 20, 2015.
On May 7, Manila joined 200 cities in celebrating the 10th anniversary of Jane’s Walk and what would have been Jane Jacob’s 100th birthday. Jane’s Walks began in 2006 to commemorate the life of one of the most influential figures in urban planning. Jane Jacobs championed a community-based approach to designing cities, including the seminal concepts of pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, parks, and retail design in building vibrant local economies. She helped derail plans to convert core downtown neighbourhoods into highways in both Toronto and New York. May also marks National Heritage Month, providing opportunities to raise awareness of heritage buildings in need of preservation.
In partnership with Far Eastern University, Map the Philippines hosted a walking tour of historic Quiapo district attended by over a hundred participants. Labelled #mapPHquiapo, the tour included 125 year-old San Sebastian Basilica, led by Conservation Foundation Director, Tina Paterno who detailed the rich history of the country’s only all metal building and whose interior finishes are still original from 1891. The Basilica’s steel and cast iron were forged in Belgium and shipped to Manila in 9 steamships, and then curiously painted to look like stone. Its painters were the country’s leading art school which eventually evolved to become the University of the Philippines Fine Arts. Another original feature is its intricately painted German stained glass by Heinrich Oidtmann, whose work is part of major museum collections around the world.
From the church, Kapitbahayan sa Kalye Bautista’s Peter Rallos and Far Eastern University Guides Fatima Mae Luna and Francis Calderon led participants through historical Hidalgo street lined with 300 year-old homes and Bahay Nakpil-Bautista, home of composer Julio Nakpil and heroes of the 1896 revolution. The tour ended at Far Eastern University’s living art space, recognized by UNESCO for successful heritage preservation. Its five Art Deco buildings were designed by Pablo Antonio, Sr., National Artist for Architecture.
From the walking tour showcasing Quiapo’s past and present, the event transitioned to a mapping party for Quiapo’s future at the modern Far Eastern University Institute of Technology 17th floor hall overlooking the city of Manila. Participants learned the basics of neighborhood mapping on OpenStreetMap, how to report heritage protection needs, and how to share photos on free mapping app, Mapillary. Wikimedia Philippines taught participants how to create and edit Wikipedia pages. Local residents and the local fire hall inspector shared concerns regarding fire safety and the lack of adequate sprinkler and hydrants to protect heritage sites and affected communities, which initiated a separate project to map to identify fire risks in Quiapo.
In partnership with Far Eastern University, you’re invited to Map the Philippines at our Quiapo Walking Tour and Mapping Party on May 7th! #mapPHquiapo #mapPH
Join one or both events, everyone is welcome and the event is free!
9:00 – 12:00 Quiapo Neighbourhood Walking Tour. Meet at San Sebastian Church steps.
12:00 – 5:00 Mapping Party at the Rooftop of FEU’s Institute of Technology Click on the green Register button above to secure your spot! You’ll receive more details and tips after registration.
During the Walking Tour you’ll hear stories behind the color and character of the Quiapo district, the former downtown of Manila. The Walking Tour is part of the 10th Anniversary of Jane’s Walks taking place in over 150 cities around the world. Learn more about the tour and Jane’s Walk.
Tour stops include:
Quiapo Market for truly Filipino crafts and their popular lumpia, hopia, noodles and curry stalls.
San Sebastian Basilica, the only all steel church in Asia, built in Belgium in the late 1880s, fitted with German stained glass and painted beautifully by the arts school which evolved to become UP Fine Arts.
Far Eastern University is a living art space, recognized by UNESCO for successful heritage preservation. Its five Art Deco buildings were designed by Pablo Antonio, Sr., National Artist for Architecture.
At the Mapping Party you’ll learn the basics of neighborhood mapping on OpenStreetMap, the Wikipedia of maps.
Share your photos on Mapillary to help highlight Quiapo heritage preservation and community needs.
Help update maps and create Wikipedia entries for the historical places and spaces of Quiapo.
The U.S. Embassy, in partnership with Map the Philippines and OpenStreetMap Philippinesinvites you to a mapathon to support the American Red Cross’ Typhoon Haiyan Recovery Program in Leyte. They are currently working in 23 barangays or villages on integrated recovery programs including house construction, house repair, community infrastructure, disaster risk reduction, livelihoods and water and sanitation.
If you’re new to mapping and OpenStreetMap, we’ll teach you the basics of mapping cities and disasters. Everyone is welcome! #mapPHL
Important: Please be sure to register here on Eventbrite with your details by noon on Tuesday, January 19 to clear embassy security.
Saturday, January 23
8:30am to 2:30pm
U.S. Embassy Manila
1201 Roxas Boulevard
Ermita, Manila
*Please bring your laptop, and GPS or smartphone to download mapping apps. 15 computers will be available to those who need it, please note this in your registration. Complimentary pizza lunch will be served.
Many thanks to the MapGive project, the Humanitarian Information Unit (HIU) of the U.S. Department of State is providing the OpenStreetMap community access to updated satellite imagery services to help assist with humanitarian mapping.
WHEN
WHERE
Embassy of the United States of America – 1201 Roxas Boulevard Manila, NCR 1000 PH –View Map
We believe maps and community driven mapping projects can help visualize the needs and opportunities in our neighbourhoods. Maps can serve as the connecting point to coordinate and track efforts across government, business, NGOs and community groups. Which is why we support OpenStreetMap, a free and open source mapping platform supported by a community of over 2.3 million mappers that contribute data about roads, hospitals, restaurants, coffee shops and more from around the world. Learn more about becoming a mapping volunteer.
Learn about OpenStreetMap and how mapping helps visualize community needs and opportunities in disaster, livelihood, arts, heritage preservation and food security.
If you’d like to learn how to map, please bring your own laptop, tablet or GPS.
The event is free and everyone is welcome! Introductions will begin from 1:00-2:00pm.
1:00 to 6:00pm
Mozilla Community Space Manila (MozSpaceMNL)
Roof Deck, Molave Building,
2231 Chino Roces Avenue (Pasong Tamo)
Makati City, Philippines 1233
Our goal is to help create more sustainable infrastructure and to provide a space for better cross sector collaboration, transparency and accountability for our communities. Our free online platform launches in early 2016 and provides opportunities for citizens and organizations to share their programs, services, and best practices, and to identify funding needs and connect with other stakeholders.
OpenAerialMap is an open service to provide access to a commons of openly licensed imagery and map layer services from around the world. Rather than spending time and resources on expensive imagery, you can search teh repository and download or contribute imagery to the growing commons of openly licensed, non-commercial imagery. This helps governments, NGOs, business and academe access expensive imagery and helps reduce duplicate efforts on high resolution map imagery.
Under the World Bank OpenRoads project, my company and partners were the first to share our Philippine imagery on OpenAerialMap.
Under the OpenRoads initiative, the World Bank is supporting the government of the Philippines in advancing a set of policies and tools to improve strategic local road infrastructure for inclusive growth. The starting point for financing and implementation of better local road networks is a strategic map.
OpenStreetMap Philippines conducted a 2-day OpenStreetMap workshop, with SkyEye drone mapping, community consultations and the Local Government Units of Tanauan and Malvar, Batangas. A follow up visit and additional mapping events and tools are planned soon.
Update: our drone imagery is available on CC-BY license on the OpenAerial platform.
I was lucky enough to be Jane Jacob’s neighbour in Toronto and am happy to now be helping organize Jane’s Walk in Manila, and hopefully other cities for the now annual Jane’s Walk on May 1-3. It’ s a terrific way to spend the day exploring the city and learning about the rich stories from our neighbourhoods.
Jane’s Walk is a movement of free, citizen-led walking tours inspired by Jane Jacobs. The walks get people to tell stories about their communities, explore their cities, and connect with neighbours.
Stay tuned for more details!
Learn more about Jane’s Walks taking place all over the world >> http://janeswalk.org/
Netsquared City Organizers at the N2Y4 Mobile Challenge Conference in 2010.
Back in 2009, I co-organized Netsquared Toronto, the beginnings of a new life working in the tech for good sector and creating global programs and technology tools and events that enhance cross sector civic and community engagement. More than five years later and half way across the world, I’m back in Manila and excited to help launch Netsquared Manila.
Part of what brought me here was Typhoon Haiyan. Having grown up in Jakarta, Manila and Toronto, the need for networked community infrastructure around disasters inspired me to create a cross sector platform to help map the NGO, government, business and citizen group communities. Visualizing the work of organizations by location helps provide better transparency, accountability and collaboration during disasters, but more importantly helps build and strengthen these relationships year round. The platform includes workshops on how to map using OpenStreetMap, field mapping, drone mapping, sustainable livelihood programs and internet access tools to bring connectivity to at risk communities.
For NGOs, we’re mapping the needs of the sector, helping make community needs more visible to funders and to understand where there are gaps and overlaps in support.
In my role as co-organizer along with Jed Adao and Jake Fadallan, we’re getting to know the NGOs in Manila and creating events to help meet the tech needs of the community through our face to face Meetup group.
Coming soon…Netsquared Manila! We’re bringing all kinds of tech tool goodness to support the wonderful NGO community in Manila, and to connect us with over 80 Netsquared cities worldwide. Stay tuned for more updates! Netsquared is the face to face social purpose tech community meetup of Techsoup Global – a program providing free and discounted software and tools to NGOs around the world.
In 2012, the Bogota Chamber of Commerce engaged us to identify key priorities and engagement strategies during a tumultuous time. Their beloved mayor had completed his two term limit, and the current mayor, along with his brother were on their way to jail for corruption charges.
Around the world our cities are in desperate need of rejuvenation and transformation. Elected officials are scrambling to equip their cities for the 21st century, talking about creating “open,” “networked,” and “smart” cities.
The problems are legion. Mexico City is now one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Megacities such as Sao Paulo and Johannesburg are straining to the point of paralysis from population influx, lack of infrastructure, traffic congestion, pollution and crime.
Many cities in the United States grew rapidly after World War II, but now have dysfunctional urban centers. By separating where we live, work and shop, cities have been divided into downtowns that become ghost towns at night, suburbia where the commute is brutal and the mall where a car is required for all shopping. Detroit has lost more than half of its population and large parts of the city have become a wasteland, populated by wild animals. The median house price is under $10,000.
Fortunately the digital revolution provides a powerful new platform for the transformation of the city. In areas ranging form public safety and transportation to more transparent government operations, the Internet is enabling a new kind of 21st century city.
However, everywhere local government, business and civil society leaders are struggling with the challenges of making change happen. There is a lot of excitement but progress is uneven.
Surprisingly it is a city in the emerging economies that may have discovered a key to success — Bogota the capital of the South American Country of Colombia. And it turns out the best way to transform a city for the digital age is to use those same digital tools to engage the population in reinventing their own municipality.
The beleaguered city has been beset by crime and corruption, but recently residents have become optimistic that improvements are possible. On October 31, Bogota residents elected Gustavo Petro as mayor. He replaced the previous mayor, Samuel Moreno, who had been suspended from office in early May 2011 after charges of bid rigging and accepting kickbacks.
During Moreno’s regime, the city’s coffers had been depleted by massive expenditures in a public transit system. Relatively little work had been completed for the large amounts of money spent. In the wake of the corrupt Moreno mayoralty, there was a crisis of government and a political vacuum. Huge changes were required but it was unclear who would take the lead in achieving it.
The Bogota Chamber of Commerce had been a relatively strong and active organization in the city for many years. Under the leadership of a new CEO Consuelo Caldas, the Chamber wanted to take a more active role in the city’s economic and social development.
With a municipal election scheduled for the end of October, the Chamber saw an opportunity to challenge the mayoral candidates with ideas and proposals to fix the city. But rather than doing the back room lobbying that characterizes municipal politics, it took a different approach. It decided to engage the citizens of Bogota in a process to reinvent their city.
I was fortunate to participate in this process as an adviser, and from my perspective it was an extraordinary exercise that is rich with lessons for anyone wanting to help their own city. The goal was to encourage local businesses, community leaders and citizens to become involved in the city’s affairs.The campaign was called “Set the Hearbeat of Bogota” (HACEMOS LATIR A BOGOTÁ — HLB)
Asia Society Philippines, in cooperation with AIM ASEAN 2015 Project, are hosting Part 3 of their Understanding ASEAN series on Disaster Management on Tuesday, January 13, 4-6PM at the Asian Institute of Management.
ASEAN countries are one of the most vulnerable to the growing impacts of climate change, such as storms, typhoons, and coastal flooding. Super-typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines last November reinforces the urgent need for countries to identify new approaches and ways forward for disaster risk reduction.
On January 13, panelists will discuss the prospects for better climate resiliency and disaster prepararedness for the Philippines in the context of the ASEAN integration.
Speakers:
Undersecretary Alexander P. Pama
Executive Director
National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Office of Civil Defense
Dr. Marqueza Reyes
Technical Advisor, Disaster Risk Reduction
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Ms. Celina Agaton
2013 Google USAID Fellow
International Conference of Crisis Mappers
Mr. Zak Yuson
Director
MovePH Rappler
Mr. Takaaki Kusakabe
Research Coordinator for Earthquake Disaster Prevention
Research Center for Disaster Management,
National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management
Japan International Cooperation Agency
Inspired by the Wikipedia model, OpenStreetMap was created by Steve Coast in the UK in 2004. 10 years, and 1.7 million users later, OpenStreetMap continues to grow and thrive helping citizens navigate neighbourhoods all over the world.
Our speakers included:
Blenn Huelgas from World Food Program Philippines
Sara Terp from Ushahidi
Edgar Illaga from SkyEye drones
Eugene Villar from OpenStreetMap Philippines
Thanks to our friends and partners from World Bank, USAID, British Council, Ateneo Sustainability Institute for attending the event!
Our goal is to map the Philippines for disaster response, community resiliency and better transparency. In partnership with OpenStreetMap Philippines, SkyEye Drones, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap, and the U.S. State Department’s MapGive program, we’re hosting free OpenStreetMap training workshops in cities across the Philippines. We’re also bringing innovative and accessible internet access solutions and communications tools to the communities we partner with. We’ll have more exciting updates soon, please stay tuned.
Here’s a terrific video showcasing 10 years of edits on OpenStreetMap. Thank you mappers!
OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world. It is supported and updated by 1.7 million registered users worldwide. During the Typhoon Yolanda response, as in other disasters, OpenStreetMap was widely used by the local and international aid community for its accuracy and accessibility with sharing and transferring data.
We want to help map the Philippines through free mapping workshops, citizen reporting and crowdsourced data. We’re creating mapping networks with local community leaders, colleges, government, business and NGOs to help empower Filipinos from across the sectors to collaborate together to map our communities. Our first step is to create a base layer map with roads, rivers and buildings, next we can then add additional layers such as needed infrastructure and social programming like disaster risk and preparedness, food security, health and education needs by location. We’re also bringing innovative and accessible internet access solutions and communications tools to the communities we partner with.
Learn about our exciting mapping projects and how you help become a citizen reporter with just a few clicks!
Please register so we can stay in touch with our mapping news and projects in the Philippines.
We’re partnering with local community leaders, colleges, government, business and NGOs to host OpenStreetMap workshops to help empower Filipinos from across the sectors to work together to help map the Philippines.
OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world and is supported and updated by 1.7 million registered users worldwide. During the Typhoon Yolanda response, as in other disasters, OpenStreetMap was widely used by the local and international aid community for its accuracy and accessibility with sharing and transferring data. The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap community was critical in providing much needed imagery for unmapped areas devastated by Typhoon Yolanda.
Even businesses like Foursquare, Munch Punch, Craigslist and Mapquest also use OpenStreetMap. OpenStreetMap is a free, open data and open source platform, mapped by the community, for the community.
Our first step is to create a base layer map with roads, rivers and buildings mapped out, then we can then add additional layers like needed infrastructure and social programming like disaster risk and preparedness, health and education needs by location. We’re planning on deploying mapping kits with laptops, GPS and other tools needed for communities to continue updating their maps after our training workshop.
Our Goals:
1. To complete the mapping of the Philippines for its many diverse communities.
2. To have accurate mapping data ready and available for ongoing and future disaster, infrastructure and community needs.
3. To grow the current Philippine OpenStreetMap community to help update our maps.
We’ll be making some exciting announcements at our OpenStreetMap 10th Anniversary Party at the Mind Museum on December 4th from 11am to 2pm. I hope you can join us for our drone showcase, mapping demos and cupcakes!
Happy World Food Day from the Surigao State College of Technology’s agriculture and fisheries program! Spent the day with Mayor Coro touring sustainable food programs and drafting up mapping and livelihood projects. Fortuitous timing for this trip to happen on this day.
People may argue about climate change, but few can ignore the fact that extreme weather events have become increasingly prevalent in recent years. From hurricanes Isaac and Sandy — which wreaked havoc on the United States’ east coast — to the devastating Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, it’s clear that urban hubs across the globe need to address the challenge of ensuring they are resilient to future natural disasters.
Tonight in San Francisco, the Pacific Cities Sustainability Initiative, a collaboration between Asia Society and the Urban Land Institute, plays host to Cities at Risk, an event intended to evaluate the efficiency of past resiliency efforts while keeping an eye on future natural disasters. Tonight also marks the official release of a new PCSI report entitled Creating Resilient and Livable Cities, which you can download here.
In anticipation of tonight’s event, Asia Blog spoke to 2013 Google USAID ICCM Fellow Celina Agaton, who specializes in cross-sector community engagement and creating policies for cities as they recover from natural disasters. At PCSI’s forum in Manila earlier this year, Agaton participated in a panel discussion on the role of housing and community networks in creating resilient cities.
Can you tell us how mapping and communications technology has been harnessed to facilitate disaster recovery and reconstruction in the Philippines after the destruction caused by Typhoon Haiyan?
Communication tools are at the core of every disaster response in order to quickly assess damage and verify reports of community needs. The absence of a public cross sector disaster response communications platform combined with damaged or limited cell phone and internet coverage in many areas forced citizens turn to social networks. Facebook, Twitter, Google Docs, and text messaging were used to share and organize information and logistics on missing persons, damaged infrastructure, risk areas and aid needs and deliveries.
Mapping platforms such as Google Crisis Map, OpenStreetMap, and Map Action, among many others provided maps to local and international aid agencies often collaborating with local and national government units and their respective mapping divisions to update information on damage and aid. Portable radio stations and phone hotlines were launched in areas with limited connectivity. Drones are currently being used to provide quicker access to mapping damaged areas, and we’re currently working on establishing a drone network and drone nodes to improve information sharing and to better prepare and provide for ongoing mapping needs.
Even white space technology, which is the use of available television station channels to broadcast widespread broadband internet, was repurposed to provide communications after the typhoon. This was being piloted for the purposes of fisheries registrations in remote communities.
The Pacific Cities Sustainability Initiative with Gawad Kalinga Founder, Tony Meloto and My Shelter/Liter of Light Founder, Illac Diaz
This March, I was invited by the Urban Land Institute and the Rockefellers’ Asia Society to speak at their 2nd Annual Pacific Cities Sustainability Initiative (PCSI) Forum: Creating Resilient and Livable Cities. The PCSI is a collaborative dialogue which aims to foster long-term sharing of urban sustainability strategies between communities across the Pacific Rim. Launched in 2009 with the support of the USC Marshall School of Business and the UCLA Anderson School of Management, the initiative is a joint program of the Asia Society and the Urban Land Institute with support from leading organizations engaged in solving unprecedented challenges associated with rapid urbanization in Asia and across the Pacific Rim. PCSI convenes select thought leaders from business, government, and academia with the express aim of fostering new alliances, sharing innovative strategies, and showcasing effective practices.
The Netquared team and city organizers from around the world.
I co-organized Netsquared Toronto, one of 80 Netsquared city chapters in cities around the world. I was also a global advisor to Netsquared headquarters which is based in San Francisco. Netsquared makes it easy, meaningful, and fun for people and organizations to get the information, visibility and support they need to maximize technology for social good.
It was during this time, during Netsquared’s N2Y4 Mobile Challenge where I learned about crisismapping through Ushahidi and citizen reporting through SeeClickFix.
Every month, the NetSquared Community comes together offline at Net Tuesday events around the world to mix, swap stories and ideas, build new relationships, and collaborate to help the local community. Our local organizers are volunteers dedicated to helping create local opportunities for learning, sharing and using technology to make a difference. In this Organizer Spotlight series we bring you interviews with organizers from around the world.
We’re happy to introduce: Celina Agaton!
Celina is a co-organizer of the Net Tuesday group in Toronto, ON, Canada. You can check out her profile and ways to connect on the Net Tuesday Organizer Team page. Are you in Toronto? Connect to the Net Tuesday group here!
Tell us who you are in less than 140 characters:
Celina Agaton was born and raised in Asia and studied studied psychology, equity studies and photography at the University of Toronto. In 2008, after nine years in marketing and advertising, she joined Volunteer Toronto, a government and United Way charity that helps people find great places to volunteer and supports 400 non-profits in Toronto. She speaks on social innovation and web 2.0 and has published articles in the Canadian Journal for Volunteer Resource Management. She developed a non-profit membership program that provides 21 benefits with community-friendly and sustainable organizations, and created Volunteer Toronto’s Free Movie Night, a community partnership program that screens free social change films.
How do you spend your time when you’re not organizing Net Tuesdays?
I’m working on some exciting projects with Don Tapscott and will be a panelist at the Social Tech Training for Net Change Week. I’m also excited to launch The Great Neighbourhood Food Drive, which is kind of like a food drive 2.0: part neighbourhood exploration, part food drive, part awareness campaign and part online media exhibit. All the tools will be free, replicable and scalable for other communities, so I can’t wait to share that.
What inspired you to organize local Net Tuesday events in your community?
Wanting to spread the word on the awesome social tech community in Toronto.
What’s the hardest part of the job?
We all seem to be launching several projects, so it’s been very busy. Social tech’s really taking off in Toronto, so it’s exciting to be part of the gravitational force.
I consult as a researcher and community engagement director for Don Tapscott’s think tank, Global Solution Networks.
Understanding the New Multi-Stakeholder Models for Global Cooperation, Problem Solving and Governance
The institutions and mechanisms responsible for global cooperation at the international level are having increasing difficulty solving global problems—problems like poverty, climate change, access to water and human rights. There is growing urgency to rethink our aging global institutions. Today’s challenges demand solutions that transcend the traditional boundaries of the nation-state—solutions that include authentic citizen voices and new initiatives in social innovation that extend beyond communities and nations to the global stage.
The Martin Prosperity Institute is pleased to announce a new, landmark study of the potential of global web-based networks for cooperation, problem solving and governance. Through a series of major research projects led by global experts, we will identify and explain key issues, strategies and approaches that can help these new multi-stakeholder platforms thrive, scale and become material on the global scene.
Join institutions, corporate partners and individuals from around the world in this program to create a series of publications, tools, video and ultimately a book authored by contributing members, to explore, explain and illustrate emerging models for policy choices and ultimate impact on the problems we collectively face.
The program officially launcheS on January 29, 2013 at the Martin Prosperity Institute and on June 4, 2013 at the Summit on New Models of Global Problem Solving, Cooperation and Governance hosted by the U.S. State Department.
For more information, or to subscribe to updates on this landmark program, please contact:
Joan Bigham, Managing Director at joan@tapscott.com +1 860.536.6693
I consult as Don Tapscott’s community engagement director for his Open Cities initiative where we work with municipalities to transform cities into smart, collaborative cities.
